Abstract:

Next-generation 5G mobile networks are essential for delivering growth in many sectors of the European economy and around the world. 5G networks promise exponential progress in many high-potential sectors such as self-driving vehicles, virtual reality, ultra-high definition (UHD) video transmission, connected healthcare (a model for management and provision of health care through remote provision of health services) and many other innovative services.

Rapid advances in mobile technologies pose a number of challenges in the training of qualified professionals, which deepens Europe's lag in this area. On the other hand, the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing have affected all sections of society, including education. To maintain the required level of education that they provide to the students, universities need to adapt quickly to the situation. This article presents the experience of Plovdiv University in the training of specialists in the field of 5G technologies in a Covid-19 pandemic. Due to social constraints in a pandemic, an online course was developed for students studying telecommunications, which provides in-depth review of 5G scenarios and 5G services defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R).
A project-based approach has been used in the training of the students, which allows the students to learn what the scenarios for using 5G are, namely enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) and massive machine type communication (mMTC) and others. For the realization of a network with the capabilities of 5G, powerful radio modules and antenna devices are needed, which dissipate large amounts of heat. That is why the developed course also considers aspects related to the thermal management of 5G equipment.

Through the applied online approach, students have gained in-depth knowledge of how they can categorize 5G services and how they can handle some key challenges to improve efficiency, expected key metrics for high data rates, low latency and high reliability. In this way, successful graduates will be ready to meet the new challenges in the field of the latest generation of 5G networks and deal with new security issues.

Keywords:

5G technology, education in pandemic, 5G services, thermal management.